A new update... this one should happen BEFORE the interview in the last chapter. Thanks to ECSNorway for a review.
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From the outside it was just a standard Whistler ‘space worthy’ container, one of thousands that existed in Fenspace which had been converted into an improvised living space. No windows, a single airlock to move a small car in and a few rooms in the back of the container.
The interior of the Green Thumb, as the container was called by its inhabitants, was a mess. Boxes of Ninjaburgers fast food were laying between the monitors on the table, in a corner there was a box of dirty clothing. On the wall there was a poster with the slogan ‘Safe Earth, not wreck Mars!”, just between two racks with potted plants.
A woman with green hairs was sitting in front of one of the monitors, watching to a series of Interwave news sites in quick succession and making some notes on a data pad. Then the door towards garage opened and a man entered the room.
"Hi, Alexander, good to see you back again," she said, not even looking up from the screen. "Hope you brought some good news."
"No," he answered. "Not at all... in fact, I got some damn scary news from one of my contacts. Wake Norman up, would you? I want to tell you both at once."
The woman looked up. “Is it really that urgent? I am just fine tuning our memetic campaign against the Mars terraforming, I have a great idea how to make it work!”
Alexander sighed, Miriam had been working on her ‘campaign’ for more than a year... without any effect or reaction.
“Wake him up, I got some news about what’s happening at Saturn. It is not looking good.”
Miriam rolled her eyes as she got up and went to one of the doors in the back of the room. “Norman, time to get up... Alex is back and he has something important to say.”
It took a minute until a sleepy looking man came through the door.
“I hope this is important” he said and looked at his watch, “I told Miriam I am dead tired three hours ago.”
“Calm down Norman, I have got something important about the ESA mission on Saturn. It seems one of my contacts not only managed to get a scan of the ESA vessels, but also heard some insider rumors” Alexander replied and began to push pizza boxes away that were blocking their holo projector.
“As you see” he said and activated the projector, “the ships of the ESA are built from four different sections... Control, Cargo, Reaction Mass and Engine. I assume that the Patrol didn’t do more than a quick lock on the cargo section, they think ESA is much too tame for anything bad.”
“Yeah, and within this cargo sections they carry the equipment to plunder Nature’s resources at Saturn” Miriam said with a worried look. “They already wrecked one planet, now they are extending to the rest of the solar system!”
“We know that the Patrol and the Convention are scared. The thing that Europe calls an “ion engine” is probably the most powerful particle beam weapon Fenspace has ever seen. And if my contact is right, they even plan to get more weapons to Saturn.”
Norman looked up. “More weapons?”
“Yes, more weapons” Alexander continued, “as soon as their station is finished, they will arm it step by step. In a few years they will annex the whole Saturn region so they can exploit it without being disturbed.”
“And when the Convention finally learns what they are doing it will be too late, even if they decide to do something at all” Miriam added.
“Maybe we should try to force the issue before Europe has the chance to arm their station?” Norman suggested.
Alexander nodded. “Thats an interesting idea... wait, didn’t you said you knew a Mad that is supportive to our mission? Maybe you can ask him for some support?”
“I am not sure, but I can try. Give me a few days to contact him.”
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From the outside it was just a standard Whistler ‘space worthy’ container, one of thousands that existed in Fenspace which had been converted into an improvised living space. No windows, a single airlock to move a small car in and a few rooms in the back of the container.
The interior of the Green Thumb, as the container was called by its inhabitants, was a mess. Boxes of Ninjaburgers fast food were laying between the monitors on the table, in a corner there was a box of dirty clothing. On the wall there was a poster with the slogan ‘Safe Earth, not wreck Mars!”, just between two racks with potted plants.
A woman with green hairs was sitting in front of one of the monitors, watching to a series of Interwave news sites in quick succession and making some notes on a data pad. Then the door towards garage opened and a man entered the room.
"Hi, Alexander, good to see you back again," she said, not even looking up from the screen. "Hope you brought some good news."
"No," he answered. "Not at all... in fact, I got some damn scary news from one of my contacts. Wake Norman up, would you? I want to tell you both at once."
The woman looked up. “Is it really that urgent? I am just fine tuning our memetic campaign against the Mars terraforming, I have a great idea how to make it work!”
Alexander sighed, Miriam had been working on her ‘campaign’ for more than a year... without any effect or reaction.
“Wake him up, I got some news about what’s happening at Saturn. It is not looking good.”
Miriam rolled her eyes as she got up and went to one of the doors in the back of the room. “Norman, time to get up... Alex is back and he has something important to say.”
It took a minute until a sleepy looking man came through the door.
“I hope this is important” he said and looked at his watch, “I told Miriam I am dead tired three hours ago.”
“Calm down Norman, I have got something important about the ESA mission on Saturn. It seems one of my contacts not only managed to get a scan of the ESA vessels, but also heard some insider rumors” Alexander replied and began to push pizza boxes away that were blocking their holo projector.
“As you see” he said and activated the projector, “the ships of the ESA are built from four different sections... Control, Cargo, Reaction Mass and Engine. I assume that the Patrol didn’t do more than a quick lock on the cargo section, they think ESA is much too tame for anything bad.”
“Yeah, and within this cargo sections they carry the equipment to plunder Nature’s resources at Saturn” Miriam said with a worried look. “They already wrecked one planet, now they are extending to the rest of the solar system!”
“We know that the Patrol and the Convention are scared. The thing that Europe calls an “ion engine” is probably the most powerful particle beam weapon Fenspace has ever seen. And if my contact is right, they even plan to get more weapons to Saturn.”
Norman looked up. “More weapons?”
“Yes, more weapons” Alexander continued, “as soon as their station is finished, they will arm it step by step. In a few years they will annex the whole Saturn region so they can exploit it without being disturbed.”
“And when the Convention finally learns what they are doing it will be too late, even if they decide to do something at all” Miriam added.
“Maybe we should try to force the issue before Europe has the chance to arm their station?” Norman suggested.
Alexander nodded. “Thats an interesting idea... wait, didn’t you said you knew a Mad that is supportive to our mission? Maybe you can ask him for some support?”
“I am not sure, but I can try. Give me a few days to contact him.”